Kris Krunk Offers Online Mastering Magic

It's good to be Chris Folmer, better known as Kris Krunk, rapper and owner of the award-winning Space City Records. His latest project promises to be a real game changer for the broke independent musician. Last week Folmer launched Real Studio Magic http://www.realstudiomagic.com, a user-friendly site that allows you to upload your MP3 or WAV file to be expertly mastered within 48 hours for the low fee of $20.

Many bands believe that mastering your songs once they've been recorded is superfluous. As both a musician and a reporter who tries real hard to get our hands on every local release we can, let us assure you that it is not. DIYers can take advantage of the skills that made Space City Records the pick for Best Label last year for one-tenth of the cost of going into a mastering house.

We sat down with Folmer to talk a bit about the project.

Rocks Off: What inspired this?
Chris Folmer: My inspiration for this came from a 10 year idea to provide cheap yet amazing sound engineering. The idea for the website itself came when I was watching A&E one night and a bio on Sam Walton and Mark Zuckenburg came on back to back. Being the computer nerd I am, I thought I need to come up with the next best website.

I thought of what I could do that related to music, since I have dedicated a large part of my life to it. I thought of a social network for musicians, but Reverbnation already existed and took way too much startup cost. I then thought, "What do musicians and people who love to make music actually spend money on?" The answer I came up with was equipment and recording. Guitar Center has the musical products market pinned down, so I went with what I had studied for over 10 years, audio engineering.

Sam Walton came in, telling me in my mind that I need to provide something affordable and of the best quality possible, along with hard work as the backbone. Wal-Mart nowadays does not relate to me, I refer more to the early years when Wal-Mart actually changed lives. With that thought in my head, I decided to take my $100/song mastering technique, create a formula with presets for different genres and fidelity levels, and create a streamlined mastering process. I decided to break the barrier and charge only $20 a song and $10 a song for people who want more than 1 done at once.

RO: Do you think it could change the way people release records?
CF: I think it could change the way people create records. Many artists now record songs at their home studios, with equipment they bought at Guitar Center, because they are on limited budgets and can't afford $75+/hr for recording/mixing and $100+ a song for mastering.

After it's all said and done, a band can spend $2000 for a 5 song EP, and that doesn't include getting it pressed on CDs with jewel cases. Even if they sell it for $5, they are only making a few bucks per CD sold. They would need to sell 1000 CDs to break even with an EP. It's not easy to sell 1000 CDs for a band starting off.

What I am offering, is an opportunity for bands or artists to record at their home studio, or a small studio for cheap, and have a professional sound for less than a tenth of the price. A lot of artists feel they can perform better at home, so I think that better music will be created because of this, and with my service, the songs will be reached to their full potential.

This will mean a lot more artists will have good quality songs, making competition stronger, but it will also challenge bands to perform better on tape When a song is brought to commercial sound status, it sounds good but also brings out everything, even off key singers and sloppy playing. I hope this can reality check people who hide behind bad recordings.

I don't think Folmer's comments about mastering rates represent the current sound engineering market accurately. There are many options for musicians who cannot afford to pay $100/song. For example, Saff Mastering of Chicago has comparable rates. Even at Essential Sound at SugarHill or name rock mastering houses like Golden or West West Side it is possible to bring in a project at an effective rate of $30-40/song. A reasonable budget these days for mastering a full-length DIY project for CD is around $400-500. RSM is cheaper than that, but not by as much as Folmer claims.

I was just giving examples of studios I know of that are top quality and rates they charge. As a businessman, I would not include my competitors such as Saff Mastering when describing my own idea :) Much love to all studios and engineers. I am just offering a unique website with high quality finished products and a website that is simple enough for anyone.